Raghunath Seth is one of India´s finest performers on the bansuri - the bamboo flute. Here, Raghunath Seth presents a rare night melody, raga Rajeshwari, evocative of a tender kind of seriousness and played with the warm tone and lyricism that Raghunath Seth is noted for. He concludes with two short folk-oriented pieces: a kajri and a dhun in raga Bhairavi.

Debashish Bhattacharya has created his own, unique style and technique of playing the slide guitar. Here he offers a sober and mystical rendering of raga Saraswati, evoking the spirit of Saraswati, the Goddess of Music and Learning. Debashish concludes with two lighter pieces, one in raga Mishra Kafi, the other in raga Mishra Pahadi.

Shujaat Khan and Tejendra Narayan Majumdar present a sitar/sarode duet in the classic pre-sunrise raga Lalit, which has a contemplative and poignant mood. They combine originality with orthodoxy and individualism with synergy to impart a refreshingly different coherence to the duet as a presentation format.

Tejendra Narayan Majumdar offers a performance of the rare, early morning raga Ahiri. Ahir refers to a community of cowherds in northern and western India and suggests the origin of this raga in a tribal or folk melody. Tejendra concludes with a moving rendition of the bittersweet raga Bhairavi.

Ustad Vilayat Khan performs his own creation, Enayetkhani Kanada, named after and dedicated to his father and Guru, the great sitarist Ustad Enayet Khan. The moods run the gamut from euphoria to sadness as Vilayat Khan fondly remembers his father, while adding new dimension and depth to the Kanada raga rendition.

Shujaat Khan presents a powerful and moving performance of raga Bilaskhani Todi, created, as legend would have it, on the spot by Bilas Khan as he sang a tribute to his deceased father the legendary Tansen. Shujaat Khan follows with a soothing rendition of the evergreen raga Bhairavi.

Netai Bose, a disciple of Mushtaq Ali Khan, is the foremost exponent of the Seniya tradition sitar style - with a sitar tone reminiscent of the rudra bin and a dhrupad-based playing style emphasizing raga architecture played with a spare elegance. Netai Bose plays the late night raga Malkauns, and the early morning raga Bhairavi, with the conceptual clarity, disciplined progression and meticulous execution that are hallmarks of the Seniya style.

Kalyani Roy, one of the few major women instrumentalists, with a carreer spanning 50 years, is a disciple of Vilayat Khan and had training from others, including percussion genius Jnan Prakash Ghosh - her immediately identifiable sitar tone is a unique variant of the Vilayatkhani sound; her style mixes a vibrant rhythmic approach with Vilayat Khan´s lyricism. Kalyani plays the morning raga Ramkali and a short semi-classical piece in raga Jogiya.

Amarnath Mishra of Benares trained under sitarist & thumri vocalist Shrikant Mishra - and has been influenced by Ravi Shankar and particularly by Vilayat Khan - his Vilayatkhani sitar tone and playing style mesh well with, and enhance, his original musical vision rooted in Benares sarangi and vocal traditions. Amarnath offers a sparkling rendition of raga Vachaspati and charming and sophisticated versions of ragas Khamaj and Bhairavi.

Rashid Khan has integrated the basics of his grooming with stylistic features inspired by other gharanas, mainly Kirana. His leisurely approach to unfolding the raga and technical command over all facets of the modern khayal idiom, confirm the young virtuoso´s musicianship and maturity beyond his years. Here he presents an elaborate khayal rendition in raga Megh Malhar and a thumri in raga Bhairavi.

Tarun Bhattacharya´s music is a rich and diverse acoustic experience, oftentimes treating the santur as a harp or even as a slide-guitar. The morning raga Basant Mukhari is a rich display of Tarun´s melodic virtuosity and the explicit rhythmicality of his approach to music. Raga Mishra Todi Dhun is a heady blend of allied ragas, full of romance as well as pathos.

Ronu Majumdar has a very personal style of flute-playing that embraces traditional performance values while adding contemporary stylistic elements. Ronu plays the classic rainy season raga Miyan ki Malhar, which has a highly contemplative mood tinged with melancholy and a bhatiali, a fisherman´s song from Bengal, in which the bansuri slips into a style that directly evokes the Indian folk consciousness.

Shankar Ghosh offers a vituosic performance of 9-beat Nasruk tal and 16-beat Tintal, in which he plays material from the traditional repertoire as well as his own creations, based on traditional themes and others that break new thematic ground. The intellectual puzzle-solving that goes on as ever new combinations of the same restricted patterns are expounded, is nothing short of remarkable.

Prof. Debu Chaudhuri, deeply immersed in tradition, has incorporated contemporary trends and approaches to sitar playing and to the sitar´s tonal production, which he felt enriched the traditional style without diluting it. Here he plays Shuddh Sarang, an afternoon raga, that suggests the tropical heat and the desire to escape to a calm and cool atmosphere, and a moody and lyrical version of raga Pilu.

Arvind Parikh is one of India's foremost sitarists, with over 50 years of training under Ustad Vilayat Khan. Parikh´s music has a strong inclination towards the meditative and introspective, and is devoid of obvious showmanship in its presentation. Parikh presents his own creation, raga Gunji Kauns, which has a late-evening character with a touch of pathos, and the romantic raga Pilu.

Sharmistha Sen´s musical style is a cross between the Jaipur Senia style of Mushtaq Ali Khan and the Imdadkhani style of D. T. Joshi. Her delineation of a raga is systematic, elaborate and intricate, an approach that invites the listener to be fully involved in the subtleties of the performance. Sharmistha plays raga Jaijaiwanti, a popular raga with a soothing and somewhat romantic character.

Manilal Nag, is a member of the Vishnupur Gharana, which spearheaded the flowering of classical music in Bengal in the 19th-early 20th centuries - forging a continuity between the dhrupad music of the rudra veena and post-dhrupad sitar music. Manilal presents Nat Bhairav, a morning melody blending the mildly playful element of raga Nat with the profundity of raga Bhairav.

Subroto Roy Chowdhury´s playing style and music are individual approaches blending the traditional dhrupad-based style of sitar, with its robust rhythmicality, and certain contemporary stylisitic approaches. Subroto plays raga Adi Basant, infusing his rendition with the euphoria and eroticism associated with Spring, and the romantic and lyrical raga Manj Khamaj.

Abdul Lateef Khan is one of India´s foremost sarangi artists. His style is distinguished by excellent intonation, the sophistication of his touch, the purity of his raga imaging, and the tranquility and love which emanate from his playing. Abdul Lateef presents virtuosic renditions of ragas Basant Mukhari and Bhairavi, which exude a self-effacing mellowness that harks back to the era when music was a way of life, and showmanship was unnecessary.